September, 2000.
Rather than focus on the city's first baseball championship in six years,
the Chicago media chooses to make a story out of poor attendance. Why
aren't Sox Fans surprised?

Enough about Attendance!

by Scott Armstrong

Oh my God they won't shut up about the attendance will
they?? Everything you hear on the radio, everything you read in
the paper... it's all about how terrible Sox fans are for not going to
the games. I go to almost 20 games a year, and they try to make
me feel guilty for not being there. You know the same thing you hear
on the Score, "Come on Sox fans, this team has played their
hardest all year, they deserve good crowds, why don't you show
up?" Well, I do show up as much as I can, I know what
the Sox have done, I've forked out hundreds of dollars to the Sox.
They don't need to tell me to show up. I don't feel bad about the poor
attendance.

Anyways, it has its advantages, you know. The last game I was at there was
a crowd of 28,000+ I think. I bought upper deck seats, hoping to find some
open seats down stairs and steal them. I couldn't find a single
seat. I was forced to sit in the upper deck. This happened to me a
few other times this year too. Back when there were 15,000 people there,
me and my friends would buy upper deck seats and sit wherever the hell we
wanted. There were no lines in the bathrooms, no lines for food. The
only thing is with the low crowds there isn't as much energy, and the game
isn't as much fun as it could be. From a fans perspective, good crowds
and bad crowds have their advantages and disadvantages.

So the Tribune and the Score can have fun talking about how Sox attendance
sucks. I could care less. The Sox are in first place, they are going to the
playoffs, I go to Sox games, and I have a good time. Who cares if some
people are missing out on a good thing? If you watch the games, go to a
few games, and follow the team, it's not your fault. You have nothing to
feel guilty for. Who gives a damn what the attendance is? Who
gives a damn how many empty blue seats there are? Last time I
checked, attendance doesn't win you anything.